Wu Juan’s expression darkened like a stormy sea. Her slender fingers twirled swiftly as she cried aloud, “Now!” At once, the giant net woven from her long silken ribbons crisscrossed and twisted chaotically into a tangled mass. Several long ribbons extended outward and suddenly coiled tightly around the golden bracelet worn by Shi Hufa, whose radiant golden aura was dazzling to behold.
The bracelet was emitting brilliant golden rays, suppressing Yang Jin’s puppets so that they couldn’t raise their heads. Suddenly, Wu Juan’s ribbons wrapped around it, entangling its golden beams. Taken completely off guard, the bracelet was quickly bound into a large bundle of cloth.
Wu Juan soared upward like a swallow darting through trees. Accompanying her graceful figure was the silk handkerchief embroidered with peonies that had first appeared when she arrived. Now it suddenly expanded dozens of times in size, like a vast silk curtain. With a flick, it unfurled and wrapped around Wu Juan, spinning around and pulling in the unsteady Yang Jin who was ahead. Wu Juan shouted, “Ah Jin, let’s go!”
The silk handkerchief wrapped the two of them tightly, transforming into a wisp of light smoke that shot directly out the window.
Shi Hufa, seeing this, did not panic. Instead, he sneered coldly, “Want to run? Where can you go?” He ignored the golden bracelet, now bound tightly in midair, and raised only his left hand high, clenching it into a fist while chanting a spell: “Vajra invincible, subduing all evil spirits. Empower!” A fist-shaped shadow shot forth, chasing the escaping silk handkerchief. With a direct hit, it sent the handkerchief spinning sideways.
With a loud bang, the silk handkerchief crashed to the ground, and Wu Juan and Yang Jin were thrown out violently. Yang Jin, already weak and exhausted, was thrown into a daze and could not rise. Seeing this, Wu Juan quickly stood up to help him. As Yang Jin was about to shake her hand away, he suddenly froze, ceased resisting, and allowed Wu Juan to help him stand.
Shi Hufa laughed loudly, saying, “I’ve long known you were a wicked girl, and now I see my suspicions were correct. Hmph, don’t you realize that although you hold the rank of altar leader, everyone only tolerates you out of respect for the sect leader. Did you really think you could actually challenge me? This time, you’ve committed an act of betrayal for this boy, and even the sect leader won’t be able to protect you. Let me deal with this boy first, then I’ll deal with you!”
With that, he formed his fingers into a fist and began chanting a spell, thrusting it forward. In an instant, a fist-shaped shadow flew straight like a spear, heading directly toward Yang Jin.
The fist approached like lightning, and in the blink of an eye, it was already before Yang Jin. Although Yang Jin desperately commanded his puppets to come to his aid, they had only just escaped the golden rays of the bracelet and were still more than ten paces away—there was no way they could arrive in time.
Wu Juan was horrified, her face paling with fear. She knew all too well that Shi Hufa’s Vajra Shadow Fist was unbreakable and unstoppable. If it struck true, Yang Jin would not survive. Her ribbons were still binding the golden bracelet, and her silk handkerchief had already been damaged. With no other magical tools at her disposal, she had no choice but to grit her teeth, summon her strength, and pull Yang Jin behind her, placing her own body between him and the incoming fist.
Just as the fist was about to strike Yang Jin, Wu Juan suddenly moved, twisting her body to stand between Yang Jin and the fist. The fist lightly brushed against her, as if it had touched nothing at all. It passed straight through her back and burst out from her chest and abdomen.
Yang Jin had thought he was doomed to die under that fist. However, as Wu Juan pulled him aside, he stumbled backward and watched in horror as Wu Juan threw herself in front of him. With a scream of pain, he saw a bloodied fist pierce through her body.
Yang Jin opened his mouth in stunned silence, staring at Wu Juan’s beautiful face twisted in agony, his eyes wide with disbelief. As he looked at the bloodied fist protruding from her chest, he snapped out of his shock and let out a cry of despair.
Wu Juan looked at Yang Jin as if she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth, and a jet of blood sprayed out, splattering his clothes with crimson spots. Yang Jin reached out helplessly, unsure of what to do. Wu Juan, her expression resolute, looked at Yang Jin one last time. Then, with a push of her hands, she sent him away and, with both hands joined, she uttered in a hoarse voice, “Frost over a thousand miles, freeze!”
As Wu Juan’s incantation ended, ice suddenly spread from where the fist had pierced her chest and abdomen. This ice was unlike ordinary ice—it was as pure and clear as crystal, glowing translucent under the moonlight. Even the shadow of the fist was frozen solid within her body.
Shi Hufa had not expected his punch to strike Wu Juan, who had sacrificed herself to protect Yang Jin. Seeing her pierced through, a chill ran through his heart, and for a moment, he was too stunned to react. When Wu Juan’s freezing spell locked the spiritual essence within his fist, Shi Hufa was startled. As he tried to summon his magic to break free, he suddenly felt a void beneath him. Looking down, he was shocked to find himself lifted into the air by four puppets that had crept up behind him.
Shi Hufa was taken aback. Although these four puppets had been helpless against his golden bracelet earlier, Wu Juan’s intervention had bound the bracelet, freeing the puppets. While Yang Jin had been too slow to command them to block the fist, they had taken advantage of Wu Juan’s desperate act to sneak up behind Shi Hufa and capture him.
Realizing his predicament, Shi Hufa quickly tried to chant a spell to escape, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm. One of the puppets had opened its mouth wide and bitten into his forearm, tearing off a chunk of flesh with a spray of blood. The other three puppets pounced as well, their mouths wide open, revealing cold, gleaming teeth. Shi Hufa screamed in pain as he rolled around, locked in a struggle with the four puppets.
Yang Jin, having successfully commanded the puppets to capture Shi Hufa, quickly turned to look at Wu Juan. From her chest down, including the monstrous fist, she had completely turned to ice. Her face was pale as snow, her eyes gazing deeply at him, yet a faint smile remained on her lips.
“Wu… Sister,” Yang Jin said, rushing forward to hold her, his hands trembling helplessly. “How could this happen to you…?” He burst into tears.
Since his family’s downfall, Yang Jin had cried countless times. Born into luxury, he had never experienced hardship. Suddenly, his world had been turned upside down—his father died in prison, his family was exiled, and soon after, his only remaining relative, his older brother, also died. It had been a tragedy beyond words.
Yet after being rescued by members of the sect and vowing revenge to save his father, he had hardened his heart and shed no tears. But now, realizing that he had been used, that his father had been cursed and betrayed by those within the sect, and that the only one who truly cared for him, Wu Juan, was now gravely injured and near death, he could no longer contain his grief. Remembering how he had deceived and manipulated her in the past, he was overwhelmed with regret and sorrow, and the tears flowed uncontrollably.
“Ah Jin, you finally cried for me, didn’t you?” Wu Juan smiled, still managing to lift her unfrozen hand to wipe away Yang Jin’s tears.
Yang Jin tightly grasped her hand, placing it against his heart, sobbing loudly, “Sister, how are you feeling? What should we do now?”
Wu Juan smiled gently, saying, “Don’t cry, Ah Jin. Actually, this is fine. Before, I told you I loved you, but you only humored me and never truly believed me. Now I’ve given my life for you—surely you must believe me now?”
Yang Jin cried out, “Sister, I’m so sorry. All those things I said before were lies. I know now, I really do. Please don’t die, okay?”
Wu Juan sighed softly, saying, “When I was little, my mother told me that a woman’s life is spent waiting for the man destined for her. I never expected that by the time I met you, it would already be too late… I often imagined, what if everything could start over? Ah Jin, the moment I saw you, I fell in love. You approached me, calling me ‘sister,’ saying you loved me, only to trick me into showing you secret manuals—but I still felt joy, even knowing you were lying to me… Ah Jin, when I’m gone, if I’m reborn as a good woman in my next life, will you marry me then?”
Yang Jin nodded repeatedly, sobbing too hard to speak.
In Wu Juan’s bittersweet smile, tears welled in her eyes, a mixture of sorrow and joy. Suddenly, she felt a surge of powerful energy from where the fist had pierced her chest. Her earlier freezing spell could no longer contain it. She turned her head and saw Shi Hufa rising unsteadily to his feet, a look of panic on her face. She quickly turned back, wanting to warn Yang Jin.
Yang Jin saw the sudden shock in Wu Juan’s tear-filled eyes. Then, just as she opened her mouth to speak, the icy hand embedded in her chest suddenly trembled. The frost spread rapidly from her chest and neck upward, freezing her from head to toe into a statue of ice. Her face remained frozen in the expression of shock and surprise she had worn in her final moments.
Yang Jin turned quickly and saw that Shi Hufa had somehow broken free. His body was a bloody mess, barely holding together, his eyes burning with madness.
With a furious roar, Shi Hufa pulled his fist back. It had shrunk to just a few inches in size. The impact shattered the frozen Wu Juan, sending dozens of cracks spreading like a spiderweb from her chest outward. Her beautiful face shattered into shards of ice, and her entire body disintegrated into a flurry of snowflakes, scattering into the night.
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